Bill Turnbull opened up about his prostate cancer battle on tonight's Great British Bake Off for Stand Up To Cancer

Speaking at the end of the episode, Bill said: “I was getting pain in my legs and in my hips particularly, and I thought, ‘This is old age’.

“Eventually the pain got so bad I thought I’d better go see my GP. He said, ‘I’m just going to give you a blood test, an MOT if you like, to check a few things out’.

“The next morning he called me and asked me in pretty quickly. And the doctor said, 'it’s fairly clear you have advanced prostate cancer and it's spread to the bone.'

"Now I have to deal with the future or having much less of the future than I thought I'd have...it's a very, very difficult moment."

Channel 4

Bill finished filmed the celebrity edition of the show in November

Mark Bourdillon/Love Productions/Channel 4 (Channel 4 images must not be altered or man

Bill was on tonight's GBBO with Martin Kemp, Roisin Conaty and Harry Hill

Fame Flynet

Bill says it was heartbreaking to give the sad news to his wife Sarah and his three children

Totally overwhelmed by the love I've had on here today, and deeply moved - to tears on occasion (well I am a bit of a softy). Thank you so much to everyone who's been in touch, it really means a lot. Watch Celeb Bakeoff 8pm, support @StandUp2C - and guys, think of getting tested!

He continued: "Those first few fays after diagnosis are really horrible, probably the worst few days of my life.

"The love of my family and friends have really kept us afloat.

"I told my daughter and I had to tell my sons on the phone...we all cried. If I'd tested a few years ago, we could have knocked it on the head earlier and my chances of survival would be a lot better.

"Now I'm on a course of chemotherapy. If it was all to end tomorrow I would not feel hard done by. I've had an amazing life, I'm incredibly lucky and if one thing comes out of this is that if you know your time is limited you appreciate the world around you so much more and particularly the love of my family."

Channel 4

Bill is currently undergoing chemotherapy

What are the symptoms of prostate cancer?

Symptoms include:

Needing to urinate more often, especially at night

Needing to rush to the toilet

Difficulty in starting to pee

Weak flow

Straining and taking a long time while peeing

Feeling that your bladder hasn't emptied fully

Viewers at home were in tears at the emotional video.

One wrote: "Crying with laughter one minute, and then crying for Bill Turnbull the next #GBBO".

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back to rehab

Another said: "Breaking my heart listening to @billtu story, my father had liver, lung cancer and then it had spread to his bones. You’ve just made me cry watching you talk about your story #GBBO #StandUpToCancer".

A third said: "Bill’s story is heartbreaking, absolutely crazy that he did #GBBO and was then diagnosed himself😞".

Channel 4

Bill took to Twitter to say he's in 'good spirits'

Bill also took to Twitter to update his fans and said: "Totally overwhelmed by the love I've had on here today, and deeply moved - to tears on occasion (well I am a bit of a softy).

"Thank you so much to everyone who's been in touch, it really means a lot. Watch Celeb Bakeoff 8pm, support @StandUp2C - and guys, think of getting tested!"